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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Market Summary -- 15th Feb 12

FTSE STI closed 3,011.68, up 24.27 points or +0.81% with a total volume of 2.89b and a total value of S$2.28b. Total number of advance vs decline was 430 vs 162. Of the 30 component index stocks, 23 closed positive, 5 closed negative and 2 remained unchanged. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-

1. JSH 500US$ +0.580

2. HKLand US$ +0.250

3. Wilmar +0.200

4. CityDev +0.170

5. DBS +0.150

The 5 loser component stocks were :-

1. JMH 400US$ -0.600

2. F&N -0.090

3. Olam -0.040

4. SingTel -0.010

5. ComfortDelGro -0.005

US markets were flat yesterday night after retail sales figure came in below expectation. Asian bourses however were on a roar for the day after China pledged to invest in EU bailout funds. Nikkei closed +2.30%, SSE +0.94% and HSI +2.14%. STI finally broke the 3000 level and closed 3,011.68 up 0.81% in a volume closing the 3 billion mark with 23 of the 30 index stocks registered positive closing.

While the cheer on China action, the focus still on Greece whether it can secure the bailout or default on 20th March. For China to invest in EU bailout funds is just to build a firewall around the bigger economy countries like Italy and Spain but that will not prevent Greece from default.

Meanwhile, local investors might want to switch the attention to this Friday Budget Day. While there should not be any goodies given out by Government as Singapore economy is not in recession mode, do expect some measures to help SMEs to ride over the slow growth in economy. This in particular could help to reduce their expenses like labour cost, etc. Such a news might not rally the STI but in the long time frame is good for SMEs.